


Charmed

by yubat (mintea)



Category: EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Magic, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-21
Updated: 2016-05-21
Packaged: 2018-06-06 17:13:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6762829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mintea/pseuds/yubat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kyungsoo is just trying to get to class. He doesn’t have time for the student society’s White Day event nonsense.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Charmed

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you, as always, to Willow and Gabs.
> 
> For the magic in this verse, think more along the lines of Diana Wynne Jones/Chrestomanci than Harry Potter :)
> 
> This was originally posted @ [Reflection I](http://reflection0112.livejournal.com), for eexiee.

“Would you like a rose?”

The girl seems to appear out of nowhere, jumping directly into Kyungsoo’s path and shoving a rose with a piece of paper tied around the stem into his face. Startled, Kyungsoo takes a step back and reflexively pulls out his earbuds. He hates passing through the courtyard outside his university’s student union for exactly this reason – it’s always teeming with people handing out flyers or trying to get students involved in this or that activity. But it’s the quickest path from his history of dual-government class to his seminar on magical regulation laws, so he risks it anyway. Usually his carefully cultivated stormy expression and single-minded speed walking are enough to deter even the most dedicated club members.

Apparently not today, though. The girl is still smiling up at Kyungsoo as if she hadn’t just nearly staged a head-on collision.

“Pardon?” Kyungsoo asks, a knee-jerk reaction that he immediately regrets. He’s just given her the perfect in. She knows it, too, and her smile widens as she takes a deep breath before launching into her spiel:

“The student society is passing out roses for White Day! Attached to each rose is a place and time, which matches the place and time on another rose – like a blind date! If you show up, who knows? Maybe you’ll find your true love!”

Kyungsoo stares at her as she speaks, partly impressed by her sheer enthusiasm and partly incredulous that he’s being dragged into this ridiculousness. He knows about the rose blind date event, of course. The student society puts it on every year and it’s one of their most popular events, right up there with the Halloween ball. There are, of course, rumors of people actually finding their true love through the roses, and back when Kyungsoo was in first year there had even been whispers of love charms being attached to the flowers.

The student society had been quick to refute that claim. There are stringent restrictions on the types of magic that can be used in public, in order to maintain the balance between magic-users and non-magic-users and protect everyone’s general welfare. Love charms are pretty high up the list of things that aren’t allowed, and if anyone had proved the student society had used them there would have been severe repercussions.

“Sorry, I’m not interested,” Kyungsoo says and starts to dodge to the side, hoping he can make his escape. The girl is having none of it, though. She matches him step for step, then reaches out and pushes the rose into his hands. Once again Kyungsoo’s reflexes betray him, and he grabs hold of the stem.

“Just give it a try! It could be fun,” she says with one last sunny smile. Before Kyungsoo can protest or hand the rose back she skips back off to the student society’s table, probably to pick up more roses to force onto unsuspecting strangers. Kyungsoo is left staring after her in shock, rose in hand, wondering what just happened.

He could, of course, toss the rose out in the nearest trash can and be on his way. But their conversation had put him behind schedule, and in his ensuing rush to get to his seminar on time it never crosses his mind to throw the rose out. In fact, when he finishes his classes for the day and makes his way to the humanities building he’s still lugging the rose with him. He isn’t even thinking about it anymore. He’s only moving on autopilot, but when he puts the rose down with the rest of his things at the table his friends have snagged in the student lounge the reaction is immediate.

“They got the king of flyer-evasion to take one of their roses?” Chanyeol crows, his eyes practically sparkling with glee.

“What did they do, hit you over the head with it?” Baekhyun adds. He reaches for the rose, and for some reason Kyungsoo is tempted to bat his hand away. He knows from experience though that acting like the rose is actually important to him will just make the situation worse, so he quells the urge and lets Baekhyun pick the rose up and untie the paper around its stem.

“They didn’t exactly hit me with it,” Kyungsoo says. “But pretty close.”

Chanyeol cackles and claps his hands, earning glares from several students in the near vicinity. Kyungsoo studiously ignores him as he unzips his bag and pulls out his books.

“March 17th, 3 p.m. at the Reflections Cafe– that’s the one across the street from the south end of campus, right?” Baekhyun reads out. He glances up from the paper and tilts his head at Kyungsoo. “Are you gonna go?”

“No,” Kyungsoo says flatly. “The whole thing is stupid, I just took the rose to avoid hurting the girl’s feelings.”

“But you kept it,” Jongdae finally pipes up.

Kyungsoo levels a glare at him. It’s always about a 50/50 toss up whether he can rely on Jongdae to side with him against Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s shenanigans – apparently today isn’t going to be in Kyungsoo’s favor.

“I think you should go,” Jongdae continues, blithely ignoring the daggers Kyungsoo is shooting in his direction.

“Yeah, maybe you’ll meet your One True Love,” Baekhyun singsongs, sending Chanyeol into another round of hysterical laughter.

“I should hex you all,” Kyungsoo mutters darkly as he grabs the paper and flower back from Baekhyun and stuffs them none-too-gently into his bag.

“Then you would have a black mark on your record and the Bureau of Magical Governance and Regulation would never hire you,” Jongdae points out, infuriatingly logical. He’s grinning his smug cat grin, but it softens slightly as he leans forward to put a hand on Kyungsoo’s arm. “Really though, I think you should consider going,” he says, more seriously. “It might be fun.”

“Fun,” Kyungsoo repeats. “That’s what the girl said, too.”

“Well, maybe she was right,” Jongdae says. “You’ve been so stressed out, you could use some fun. Besides, where’s the harm in going?”

Kyungsoo resists the urge to sigh. It’s true; if Kyungsoo goes and things are too awkward he can always just leave. And if he doesn’t go and the other person is left waiting, that would be kind of rude. Like Jongdae said, where’s the harm?

“I’ll think about it,” Kyungsoo grudgingly acquiesces. Jongdae’s grin is instantly back.

“That’s the spirit,” he says, patting Kyungsoo’s arm before leaning back in his chair. “Now, let’s get some studying done before we fail out of school and ruin your chances at the Bureau anyway.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes but turns to his books nonetheless.

✿✿✿

Kyungsoo arrives at the cafe at two minutes past three. He hates being late, but he had a class right before and the professor ran over time. He’s slightly out of breath when he pulls open the door and steps inside. The cafe is popular with students, and most of the tables are full of people chatting and studying. Kyungsoo pauses just inside the door, looking around and wondering how in the world he’s supposed to know who he’s supposed to meet, or if that person is even in the room at all.

As he looks around he notices something red sitting on one of the tables by the front windows. He takes a second look, and his suspicions are confirmed: the red thing is, in fact, a rather battered rose. Kyungsoo’s own rose is sitting in a mug of water at home, but he has the paper with him. He starts over toward the table, feeling self-conscious. This isn’t the type of thing Kyungsoo usually does; he hadn’t been joking when he said he considered the entire event stupid. And yet, in the end, curiosity had gotten the better of him.

There’s a guy sitting at the table, and he looks up when he notices Kyungsoo coming closer. They make eye contact, the guy smiles, and Kyungsoo’s heart immediately jumps up into his throat. The guy isn’t just good looking – he looks like a prince who casually hopped out of a fairy tale book. His face is handsome but still exudes an air of amiability. His hair is dyed auburn and styled up, and the cream color of the sweater he’s wearing complements it nicely. His eyes crinkle slightly as he smiles, and Kyungsoo’s heart gives another _thump_ , just for good measure.

“Um, hi,” Kyungsoo says when he reaches the table. “I got a rose saying to come to this cafe at three today…” he trails off, glancing down to the rose sitting on the table, and hopes the guy will get the message without Kyungsoo having to fight his embarrassment to explain further.

Luckily the guy immediately catches his meaning and beams as he gets to his feet. “I did too,” he says. He’s even _more_ handsome close up, if that’s even possible, and Kyungsoo feels a little starstruck. “I guess I’m your blind date, then.”

“I guess so,” Kyungsoo says, smiling back and attempting not look like he’s having an internal breakdown. As he tries to mask his struggle, he continues, “I’m Kyungsoo, by the way.”

“Junmyeon,” the guy says and holds out his hand. Kyungsoo, still feeling somewhat dazed, takes it.

And then all hell breaks loose.

The second their hands touch, eggs rain out of the sky. Within seconds Kyungsoo, Junmyeon, the table, and the floor are drenched in egg yolk and shards of shell. For a moment Kyungsoo and Junmyeon stand there staring at each other, holding hands with egg dripping from their hair and shoulders. Then someone starts screaming, and the cafe erupts into chaos. Some people run for the door, others dissolve into laughter, and in the middle of it all Kyungsoo and Junmyeon stand coated in egg. Kyungsoo can feel his cheeks heating up as people stare, and he wishes that whatever hex had caused the eggs to fall – for it must have been a hex of some sort – had an aftereffect that made him melt into the floor.

The commotion gets the attention of the lady who runs the cafe. She emerges from the kitchen and takes a moment to survey the scene. Then she marches past the employee hiding behind the counter and wades right into the thick of things.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” she bellows as she approaches the table. Her face is a spectacular shade of red, and Junmyeon finally lets go of Kyungsoo’s hand in order to make a placating gesture.

“We didn’t do anything,” Junmyeon says apologetically, complete with a sheepish smile that could easily win the hearts of most middle-aged women. Apparently not this one, though.

“Obviously you did _something_ ,” the owner insists. “Damn kids, bringing your _spells_ into _my_ shop, chasing away _my_ customers–”

As she speaks her voice rises in volume until she’s yelling. Every eye in the shop is riveted on them, and Kyungsoo honestly just wants this hell to end.

“I’ll take care of it,” he rushes to say when she pauses for breath. “Don’t worry about it, ma’am.” Then he closes his eyes, pictures the eggs, and _pushes_. There are about ten different simple cleaning spells he knows that would have taken care of the eggs just fine, but in his flustered state the only thing he can think of is sending the eggs back where they came from.

Kyungsoo opens his eyes and the eggs are gone, although he and Junmyeon are still somewhat soggy. The owner is staring at him with her mouth open, and Junmyeon is giving him a look that is tinged with awe. For half a second Kyungsoo allows himself to breathe a sigh of relief.

Then someone in the kitchen screams.

✿✿✿

The hex, which Kyungsoo later realized must have been attached to their roses, was keyed specifically to that cafe. It used the eggs from the kitchen, and so when Kyungsoo sent them away that’s exactly where they went: back to the kitchen. When the owner, with Kyungsoo and Junmyeon hot on her heels, had reached the kitchen there were eggs coating just about every surface. The same employee who had previously been cowering behind the register was standing in the middle of everything, drenched in egg yolk.

Of course Kyungsoo had hastily offered to run a cleaning spell and had already been reaching out for the invisible lines of power when the owner howled at him to stop. No more magic in her cafe that day, she insisted with a glower that could curdle blood. Which is how Kyungsoo and Junmyeon, along with the unfortunate employee, spent a good hour on their hands and knees cleaning egg out of every nook and cranny of the kitchen floor.

✿✿✿

“‘Dear student, this is an urgent warning from your student society. If you received a rose for the annual White Day Rose Dating event, please do _not_ go to the appointed meeting place. It has come to our attention that a number of the roses have somehow been hexed to initiate pranks–’ well, at least that explains the eggs,” Jongdae says. He looks up from his phone with a grin. “Too bad they were a day late.”

“Let’s not talk about that,” Kyungsoo says, frowning at his own phone. He hurriedly closes out of the campus-wide advisory email they both just received and shoves the phone into his pocket. The horrible embarrassment of the previous day still has his ears burning at even the merest thought of the Egg Incident.

“At least the guy was nice?” Jongdae says as he tucks his own phone away. He had been the recipient of Kyungsoo’s frantic post-egg text messages the day before, and Kyungsoo thinks he may be feeling somewhat guilty for the whole thing. He had, after all, been the one to encourage Kyungsoo go. At any rate, Jongdae had shown up to their shared international policy class with cookies from Kyungsoo’s favorite bakery, so Kyungsoo has decided to forgive him for now.

“Yeah, he was nice,” Kyungsoo grudgingly agrees. Despite Kyungsoo’s repeated apologies for making things worse, Junmyeon had insisted that it was fine and kept smiling and whistling as he cleaned. When they were finished Kyungsoo had done a quick spell to clean their clothes – an actual cleaning spell this time and not a misguided redirection spell – and then made some excuse about being late for class and booked it.

But honestly, whether Junmyeon is nice, or kind of really hot, or whatever, none of it really matters. Kyungsoo has no intention of ever seeing him again.

“I wonder if you’ll run into him again,” Jongdae muses, as if reading Kyungsoo’s mind.

“Our campus has nearly thirty thousand students,” Kyungsoo deadpans. He stuffs part of a cookie in his mouth to counteract the conflicting feelings of both relief and disappointment that come with that statement. Through the crumbs he continues, “I’ve never seen him before, so I doubt I’ll ever see him again.”

✿✿✿

In the next week, Kyungsoo sees Junmyeon three times.

It always happens when he’s on his way from one class to another, walking the same pathways he takes like clockwork every day. Kyungsoo would _swear_ he has never seen Junmyeon on those paths before. He’s pretty sure he would have noticed – even if does he tend to speed walk, it’s not like he’s completely unaware of his surroundings. And yet suddenly there Junmyeon is, over and over again, eyes lighting up when he spots Kyungsoo and raising his hand in a wave.

Every time he sees Junmyeon, Kyungsoo is immediately beset with a battle of emotions. First the embarrassment of that day in the cafe comes washing over him, and he debates working a transport spell that would take him right out of the country. But then as he takes in Junmyeon’s friendly smile, Kyungsoo’s traitor of a heart starts to beat harder, and he finds himself wanting to go over and say hi. To actually chat now that they hopefully won’t have eggs dropping from the sky to interrupt them. In the resulting confusion he generally settles for smiling back and nodding, then making some sort of apologetic gesture to indicate that he’s in a rush and dodging into the nearest building.

The first day he escapes into the library, the second day into the humanities building. The third time he practically runs for the biology building – the first time he’s been into it in his entire three years on campus.

“I feel like I’m going crazy,” Kyungsoo says, running a hand through his hair.

“Maybe you should just talk to him?” Jongdae suggests.

They’re walking toward the bus station by the university’s gates. It’s clear and sunny out, although the air still has the bite of winter to it. Almost spring, but not quite. Kyungsoo shivers and wraps his coat more tightly around himself.

“The last time we talked he ended up having to clean an entire kitchen because of me,” he points out.

“That wasn’t actually your fault,” Jongdae says. “You’re not the one who hexed the roses. Besides, you said that he always smiles and waves at you, so I doubt he holds it against you.”

“ _I_ hold it against me,” Kyungsoo mutters. Jongdae just laughs and bumps Kyungsoo’s shoulder lightly.

“I still can’t believe you got flustered. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you flustered before,” Jongdae says with a shake of his head.

“I wasn’t flustered,” Kyungsoo protests, shooting his friend a glare. Jongdae, now in full teasing mode, pays him no mind.

“One of the strongest magic users on campus, defeated by some eggs–”

“Kim Jongdae I swear I am going to hex you–oh shit.”

Before Jongdae can even ask what’s wrong Kyungsoo is ducking behind him, using Jongdae as a human shield. Across the street from them, coming out of the education building, is Junmyeon.

“There he is again,” Kyungsoo hisses. He peeks around Jongdae’s shoulder, then quickly ducks back again. Junmyeon, unaware, continues to walk toward them. “Help me hide, I don’t think he’s seen me yet.”

“Who? The guy from the cafe? Where?” Jongdae starts looking around, and Kyungsoo has to shuffle to remain hidden behind him.

“Coming out of Education,” Kyungsoo says. “Help me _please_ –”

“The guy in the tan jacket? Wow, you’re right, he’s pretty cute. Hello!”

Before Kyungsoo can stop him, Jongdae calls out and waves to Junmyeon. Junmyeon glances over, a confused expression on his face that quickly changes into a smile as Jongdae moves out of the way and leaves Kyungsoo directly in Junmyeon’s line of sight.

Kyungsoo stares back, feeling like a deer in the headlights and probably looking like one, too. But Jongdae is already moving forward toward Junmyeon and Kyungsoo realizes that Jongdae just made his choice for him. If he runs now not only would it be rude, but Jongdae would probably take the opportunity to do something like tell Junmyeon embarrassing stories from first year. So he smiles back hesitantly and hurries after Jongdae, trying to ignore the way his stomach is fluttering.

“Sorry to bother you like this, but Kyungsoo was just telling me about you,” Jongdae says with one of his most winning smiles once they’re within speaking distance. “I’m Kyungsoo’s friend, by the way.”

“I figured,” Junmyeon says with his own teasing grin to match Jongdae’s. “What a coincidence, though, I was just wondering how I could manage to talk to Kyungsoo again.”

Junmyeon turns his gaze back to Kyungsoo and his smile softens. Kyungsoo’s heart skips a beat.

“Every time I see you, you seem to be in a rush,” Junmyeon says, almost apologetic, as if it were somehow _his_ fault they hadn’t been able to talk.

“I’ve been busy,” Kyungsoo hurries to say. He can feel the tips of his ears starting to get warm, and he wills them not to go pink.

“Not now, though,” Jongdae pipes up helpfully. “We just finished with classes and we’re completely done for the day. Kyungsoo is super free, _totally_ free.”

For a second Kyungsoo considers putting a silencing charm on Jongdae, potential black marks on his record be damned. Jongdae is speaking nothing but the truth, and now that he’s here talking to Junmyeon, Kyungsoo realizes that this isn’t nearly as bad as he had feared it would be... but that doesn’t make Jongdae’s meddling any less obnoxious.

“Is that so?” Junmyeon asks, eyebrows rising. “I just got out of class too.”

“Ah, really?” Kyungsoo says. He can feel hopefulness rising in his chest, overpowering what remains of his humiliation from their first meeting. It _had_ been embarrassing, but Junmyeon obviously isn’t overly bothered, and now Junmyeon is talking to him and still ridiculously good looking and maybe–

“Yeah, so maybe we could try a do-over for that date?” Junmyeon looks so _earnest_ as he asks, and Kyungsoo’s heart gives another twinge. “I know a coffee shop a short walk from campus. We can try for coffee again, this time without any eggs.”

“Sure, that sounds great,” Kyungsoo says. The last of his apprehension finally melts away and he smiles for real, beaming at Junmyeon. Junmyeon is smiling back at him, and for half a second Kyungsoo allows himself to get lost in the moment.

Then Jongdae whistles loudly and starts applauding.

This time Kyungsoo really does put a silencing charm on him. All it takes is a simple mental _twist_ , and then Jongdae is staring at him in blessedly silent disbelief. It’s not a complicated spell, and once Jongdae gets over the shock he’s more than capable of taking it off, but the look on Jongdae’s face has Kyungsoo counting it as a victory nonetheless.

“Lead the way,” Kyungsoo tells Junmyeon with a grin while Jongdae is still gaping.

Junmyeon laughs and nods goodbye to Jongdae before starting off toward the main pathway. He pauses after a few steps and looks back over his shoulder to see if Kyungsoo is following.

“I’ll text you later,” Kyungsoo says to Jongdae, then waves and hastens after Junmyeon. He’ll apologize for the charm later, and maybe even thank Jongdae for getting him to talk to Junmyeon. For now, though, Kyungsoo is happy to match his step to Junmyeon’s and head off to their date.

And maybe, he thinks when Junmyeon gives him a conspiratorial wink, just maybe, campus events aren’t so bad after all. Even ones that are hexed.


End file.
